The Elizabeth Banks-directed thriller Cocaine Bear gets an official release date. Banks' last directorial effort was 2019's Charlie's Angels and the script for Cocaine Bear comes from The Babysitter: Killer Queen scribe Jimmy Warden. While both Angels and Queen were met with tepid responses from critics, the film is produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the genius makers of the Lego movies. Previously, Lord and Miller have said Cocaine Bear will be insane, and if they say it's so, it's a promising stamp of approval.
Deadline reports the official release date for Cocaine Bear will be February 24, 2023. While set in Georgia, the film is being shot in Ireland, and is inspired by the true story of Andrew Thornton. Thornton was a narcotics officer turned drug smuggler whose plane crashed in 1985, and a lethal amount of the plane's cargo was ingested by a black bear. Taking its liberties, the movie will follow an oddball assortment of cops, criminals, tourists, and teens converging in an Appalachian forest where they encounter the coked-up behemoth on a rampage that snowballs out of control.
Cocaine Bear stars Keri Russell and Ray Liotta, alongside Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kristofer Hivju, Kahyun Kim, Christian Convery, Brooklynn Prince, and esteemed character actress Margo Martindale. The February 23 release will situate the thriller between some potential box-office heavy-hitters. Disney's The Marvels is releasing on February 17, and Paramount's Dungeons & Dragons on March 3. Hopefully, Cocaine Bear and all its drug-fueled madness won't get lost in the wilderness between the two.
Source: Deadline